Sunday, July 8, 2012

Free Pantheon of Gods - Circa 1986

I can't believe I had both the time and the inclination to write up a whole panthon of gods. I'm putting this at around 1986, as by that time I was pretty much a full time GM for my High School / College group, and I was working on my own setting.

Yep, that's also around the time I got my hands on hexagonal graph paper and decided to try my hands at world design. I apparently didn't get very far. It's also a photocopy of the original, which was done in color pencils if I recall correctly.

My issues with world design were that my vision was always much larger than either my ability or my free time. I never completed a world / setting / major geographical area. So I generally found an area in Greyhawk or the Forgotten Realms that was out of the way and pretty much did whatever it was I wanted to do - but with pre-drawn maps and pantheons.Still interesting pieces from my own collection. I'm half tempted to make the dungeon maps into a new mega-dungeon of sorts for my players. i still have a few more I need to post ;)

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Why "Swords & Wizardry?"

Believe me when I say I have them all in dead tree format. I have OSRIC in full size, trade paperback and the Player's Guide. I have LL and the AEC (and somewhere OEC, but I can't find it at the moment). Obviously I have Basic Fantasy RPG. Actually, I have the whole available line in print. Way too much Castles & Crusades. We all know my love for the DCC RPG. I even have Dark Dungeons in print, the Delving Deeper boxed set, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea (thank you Kickstarter) (edit) BOTH editions of LotFP's Weird Fantasy and will soon have some dead tree copies of the Greyhawk Grognards Adventures Dark & Deep shipping shortly in my grubby hands awaiting a review..

I am so deep in the OSR when I come up for breath it's for the OSR's cousin, Tunnels & Trolls (and still waiting on dT&T to ship).

So, out of all that, why Swords & Wizardry? Why, when I have been running a AD&D 1e / OSRIC campaign in Rappan Athuk am I using Swords & Wizardry and it's variant, Crypts & Things, for the second campaign? (Actually, now running a S&W Complete campaign, soon to be with multiple groups)

Because the shit works.

It's easy for lapsed gamers to pick up and feel like they haven't lost a step. I can house rule it and it doesn't break. It plays so close to the AD&D of my youth and college years (S&W Complete especially) that it continually surprises me. Just much less rules hopping than I remember. (my God but I can run it nearly without the book)

I grab and pick and steal from just about all OSR and Original resources. They seem to fit into S&W with little fuss. It may be the same with LL and the rest, but for me the ease of use fit's my expectations with S&W.

Even the single saving throw. That took me longer to adjust to, but even that seems like a natural to me now. Don't ask me why, it just does. Maybe it's the simplicity of it. At 45 48, simplicity and flexibility while remaining true to the feel of the original is an OSR hat trick for me ;)

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